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Pensioner reels in the mother of all fish on trip to see son in Australia

Bernard Lagan, Sydney

March 15 2018, 12:01am, The Times

Sue Elcock with the bass grouper she reeled in 80 miles north of Perth. At 5ft 4in, the fish is two inches taller than the Shropshire pensioner

She was only meant to be keeping her son company on a fishing trip but Sue Elcock upstaged him by reeling in a specimen “the size of a sofa”.

Ms Elcock, 68, from Lilleshall, Shropshire, was visiting Simon and his wife, Michelle, in Western Australia and joined them on a charter boat. She had caught nothing larger than a 1ft snapper so was thrilled by the firm pull on her line 80 miles north of Perth.

She thought she had caught a “fair-sized fish” but didn’t think it would be so big. It took nearly 40 minutes to haul in a giant bass grouper measuring 5ft 4in — two inches more than her — and weighing 130lbs. “I just couldn’t believe the size of it when it…